Sikelela Tapes

Directed by Djibril Cullis

In this lively collage of fiction, animation, and YouTube videos, rich in references to South Africa’s past and present, five young students from the film department of Wits University in Johannesburg examine their personal relationship with the national anthem. Its lyrics are in five languages, which are reflected in the film. But what does it mean if you don’t understand your own national anthem?, one of the students wonders. He can speak the language of the Queen, but not of his own grandmother, and laments that his grandfather felt like a foreigner in his own country.